Nick Dobda

As Kyle mentioned you'll probably get as many varying answers as there are pilots. But since your asking, I turn off the A/P as soon as I'm stable... that is configured to land, on the alignment, on the glide slope, and trimmed out. That is, if that opportunity presents itself. Sometimes the vatsim controllers might bring you in high, fast, or some other direction for whatever reason where you gotta adjust, or just say screw it, click it all off and take control whenever you realize its easier to just look out the window and fly the thing instead of doing it through automation and guidance cues.

The problem might be double loading the plane. Try loading the default 737 at the gate, then switch to the NGX. I had missing fan blades when I would load the plane in the preview window before the flight. It would load again when the game booted up. Missing fan blades is one of those issues the intro manual talks about when it says the NGX has problems loading ontop of itself.

Was the setup too complicated? I had serious issues too, but worked through them with their online support. One of the forced automatic windows 10 updated disabled it a while back - their support forum figured out a solution for that too. I agree, it was a serious pain for awhile, but it was worth it.

Yeah, I can't imagine flying without it nowadays. PMDG did so well with the VC, using the 2D panels will take away from the experience. I have 8 buttons used for views, and the point to point is really cool, kinda like moving your head to get into a better position to see things. And the ability if you have time to do a quick walk around, tats one of the cooler things. Add on GSX adds just another cool thing to look at while you're out and about plus a few more sounds to hear. Oh, yeah and the view shaking with turbulence... the sway with turning... etc - it really is a great addition.

Actually I've gotten used to the V bar. That might have something to do with having trouble following the circle, which is just the center of the crosshairs, less the crosshairs.

I have EZdok. I have all my buttons used up for view modes already (only one toggle for trim, and one push to talk) all others are preselected views. Works great. Yeah, your right looking down for a second or two while in trim straight and level is fine. If I'm mid turn, or out of trim or yawing or something in windy condition, taking a hand off the wheel, panning over, clicking, then snapping back just doesn't work so smoothly for me. The plane isn't dropping out of the sky, but things aren't going in a positive direction. Plus I'm still relatively new so I'm a bit panicky when instructions are given to me if I'm preoccupied with other things going on. Experience will clear that up over time. Hands on the wheel eyes on the director works for me now, assigning that button will be helpful.

If its landing technique you want to here here's mine Autoflight - captured glide slope where I'm at flaps 10 on speed. Lower gear drop flaps 15, drop speed bug down to VREF (30). Get the plane configured to land (checklist). Once checklist complete, pull up the HUD. Turn off A/T and control the speed yourself on the way in, dropping flaps at the proper times. Once stabilized on the speed (and flaps are down to 30) click off the AP totally. Fly it in manually following guidance from the HUD (that 30 degree line in the HUD should be worked right to where you want to touchdown). I always figure the approach can be rough as you need, jerkey wheel movements... up and down on the stick as hard as you need to in order to ensure you are in the exact place you want to be as you're flying over the apron. Then smoothly cut the throttle as you go over the apron... and the (this is important) start trimming the nose up... the reason for this is I've found cutting the throttle wants to pitch the nose down, and if you cut the throttle without trimming, it will nose over and your reaction will be to pull up too hard, and the result is an altitude gain and a vicious circle of pulling up and down trying to touchdown. If you do that trimming it will balance out and only a very slight pullback on the stick is necessary. Smooth touchdown reverse thrust till 80 knots, cut engines and you're on your way. The trimming is key and you won't pick up on it on the autoland, cause the only cue to trimming is the trim noise you hear... but that noise doesn't always sync up with the actual movements. But if you autoland, take a listen right before the flare you'll hear it trimming. Also helpful for me to have altitude callouts. You'll get a feel for what the proper timing is for callouts and know whether you're good or not.

I flew out last night using a combination of the HUD and FD in the PFD. Basically, having read everyone's comments and being more informed the takeoff was much smoother. I like the HUD gives center-line guidance in low visibility, gives the tail-strike limit, and gets a large and clear target line for the initial climb. After I bring the gear up, I'll transition down to the PFD, For some reason I just have smoother wheel movements when using the director as a guide, rather then chasing a circle where it seems I'm overshooting and constantly correcting. Also if I'm manually flying to the initial heading, I have a long line pointing to the initial heading in the PFD so I can transition out of the turn and be level on the heading - minor trim corrections, then hands off for the AP engagement into autolight. I will need to figure out a way to make assign a button to the COM1 transfer button though, I don't like taking hands off the wheel to pan the mouse down.

The velocity vector is called the flight path symbol in the manual. It's where the plane is actually going. Circle is called guidance cue. You're right, you're supposed to capture the circle with the bigger circle. I tried this once, it didn't go very well. At this time I don't do well with the HUD guidance, but do well with bars in the PFD. Yeah you nailed it. Yes, again lots of info in this thread, lots of suggestions, lots of POV, lots of things to consider. Great resource here.

It wasn't an issue until I started using it for the guidance cue... 95% of the other takeoffs were standard flaps 1 takeoffs - like the tutorials. So after the roll and climb, it was very quickly engaging all the automation. Pretty much immediately after the Pitch Target line disappeared, it was pan over and turn on the automation. Well, with a flaps 15 (honestly looking back I don't know why it was so much different or why I had so many problems) it accelerated alot slower, so forcing the wheel to follow that pitch target line stopped acceleration at just above V2... and then when the pitch line disappeared after the initial climb (like it's supposed to) I must have been pitching too high and I would actually start to lose speed. So the plane would get out of trim, and heres me trying to engage the AP... but it wouldn't engage because I had pressure on the stick (pushing down to pick up that speed) - and I guess it just snowballed and I was constantly behind the plane trying to catch it up. So if its pitch guidance I want, I should be looking at the PFD, cause that info just isn't in the HUD. Simon K had alot of things to consider, scanning the instruments and such to gain situational awareness... whats going on with the plane. So easy to get into a pattern of how to do things without really understanding whats going on. This is my problem, and likely a huge problem with simmers - in this case doing the tutorial and flying it 95% of the time, that one tweak of going from flaps 1 takeoff to flaps 15 threw me for a loop. Something simple turned complex because it was just out of the norm. I've told people yeah I can fly a real 737... if everything goes perfect and ideal... if anything goes wrong or different, that plane might be going down. Thats why we pay professional pilots..to be there when things don't go as planned.

OK, I had to go back to the HUD Pilot Guide - in that guide that dashed line is called the TO/GA Pitch Target Line. No idea where I came up with that as the flight director and probably caused alot of my issues. Yeah, I'm going to stop using it on takeoffs. Works great on landings though, just for the aircraft reference symbol and the speed tape error. So very helpful. The 3 degree line also getting that right on the touchdown zone works well. I cannot use the flight path symbol and guidance cue technique, I tried it once and it was just a mess. I've found I need to be less active with the trim, I laid off it last night and found that the trim setting in the preflight did what its supposed to do and its pretty solid during the initial climb.

Ok, I think my confusion is the hud. The dashed line in the hud goes away, but the director bars in the PFD are there. Don't even have to load vnav, toga makes the bars appear, and vnav automatically comes on at 1000 feet. I'll probably just get off using the hud on takeoffs.

All great advice and I'll read the posts a few times to digest it all. I made the flight tonight(well currently enroute to Detroit). I loaded the vnav at the runway and it armed. As I'm rolling though in toga, the vnav disengaged and would not re engage. After takeoff, just kept wings level and trimmed to a consistent climb.. engaged at, then vnav and hdg... Pulled flaps up crossing speed bugs. All was just fine. I am wondering though, why is vnav disengaging? I'd like to try a manual flight out but would,like to have those director bars to help with the vertical. By director bar I mean the dashed line on the hud

Well... Cause I've never thought of that. If I do that... then it'll bump on it's own? Problem solved if thats the case. You are right about the SOP... I'm not following anybodies really, just coming up with my own. If it works then I'm going with it. I'd just like some input and suggestions (I don't want to do anything thats not out of the "norm") Not going to end, but clearly I'm doing it wrong - which is why I came here for some suggestions. Obviously the point has been driven home how important trim is, but several suggestions and some of Kyles questions are exposing what I am doing wrong and how to correct it. I do have newbie there. But a good plan will be to fly a flaps 15 a few more times before introducing vatsim into the equation.

Yes according to the procedure I looked up they suggested. Set the MCP to V2 +15/20. Fly the Flight Director cues to Acceleration Height. At Acceleration Height, push yoke forward reducing pitch. As forward speed increases you will quickly pass through the schedule for initial flap retraction – retract flaps 5. Dial into the MCP speed window the appropriate 'clean up' speed (reference the top bug on the speed tape of the PFD, usually 210-220 kias). Continue to retract flaps as per schedule. After flaps are retracted, engage automation (if wanted) and increase speed to 250 kias or as indicated by Air Traffic Control. Raises another question, what is the norm for when its time to click on the AP? Manually set V2 to clean... yes (I think) if tyou choose to fly manually... what happens is once the flaps start going up, you'll get a A145 (or whatever V2 was) flashing in the MPC. Once the AP goes on then setting the speed isn't an option anymore assuming your also engaging VNAV

Yes, but an accelerating plane is accelerating out of trim. As I'm seeing it, the flaps 15 takeoff is alot of manual flying till you're cleaned up, then you can turn on the AP. And in the course of that manual flying, I at the very least have to roll the MCP speed up from V2 to above cleanup speed. Thank you, thats kinda my mantra. I try to learn every flight and always learn something. Yes, I've pretty much decided for awhile I'll be flying out of Midway on a full plane. Seems those runways are short enough to warrant that flaps 15 most of the time. I thought about it, but what's going on now, and feeling overwhelmed at times, this is what I want. This is why I bought this plane in the first place. Very rewarding and educational. Obviously I have some issues to work out. I'll take everyone advice here (thank you) and get it right.

Simple answer is pilot error. I am limited to what I can see on my monitors. Looking down I completely lose everything, basically flying blind. I can't feel what the plane is doing. When I pan and click, I'll have one hand on the wheel, so keeping it in the exact same spot is difficult, slight variation while I'm working somewhere else and the plane is moving where I didn't want it to go, and I have no way of feeling where its going. As for the overall a few of you guys nailed it here: I think I've done maybe 5 flaps 15 takeoffs in the last year and a half, which leads me to this: Thats 5 flaps 15 takeoffs over an estimated 300 or so takeoffs since I started in this plane. But you are onto something. Im a relative newbie at VATSIM, only a few months there. Which is why you're seeing questions related to ATC worked in into the NGX forum. Folks very helpful on here, Kyle is a great resource. One hand on the space... one on the mouse... thats 0 hands on the wheel! I have a hard enough time center wheel clicking and looking around with one on the wheel. If I'm deviating on VATSIM you'd think the plane would be better off falling from the sky with some controllers. To their defense though, if you screwed it up as much as I have while learning, I'd be putting alot of people at risk.

Consider the confines of a flight simulator vs a real airplane. Taking your eyes off the windshield consists of clicking and dragging a mouse, moving and clicking a mouse on a particular area... all of this while having all the senses not available (im at home in an office chair, not in the cockpit). It is not easy. A loss of concentration can lead to falling out of the sky in a plane this complex I think... I would agree with this. I think thats going to open up a can or worms here.. let me get my popcorn

Ok, I haven't been automatically arming VNAV prior to departure. That should provide me with a pitch line to follow on the HUD at all times, correct? I'm guessing by not having it armed is why the pitch line dissappears after a certain point. Hopefully that takes care of a lot of my problems I have had the approach freq on standby, but I don't have the switch assigned to a button press. Currently I have to pan (EZDOK) down, and click the transfer button with a mouse click. Problem being just taking my eyes off the window and HUD for 5 seconds usually screws me up. Maybe I should consider assigning a button to the transfer so I don't have to take my eyes off the HUD / window. Thats what I was getting at, if all I had to do was fly the plane, I could hit everything exactly and fly the plane manually the whole time if I had to. But its that taking my eyes off the guidance and losing track of whats going on for a few seconds that really screws me up. Comprehending directions from ATC also tends to screw me up while I'm trying to fly, especially if they're talking really fast and are hard to understand. What is this command? Is it the default trim control? My setup currently has the spacebar as AP disconnect / alarm silence. I have a toggle (similar to the real plane) to control trim. Curiously, what does this phrase mean? Still trying to get a handle on physically what happens. The tower picks up a phone and physically calls s TRACON person, the asks for '"appreq" control for X, Y, and Z' what does that phrase '"appreq" control for X, Y, and Z' mean in layman's terms? Let me guess... "Hey TRACON guy, this plane is real busy and doesn't have time to tune over, where do you want me to send him?" Does that ever happen in real life? I'd think that would indicate an incompetent crew if they couldn't handle that... only reason I cant deal with it at this point is cause...well im incompetent and doing the task of two.

I've always had trouble flying out of an airport at flaps 15. Probably because I learned the process through the tutorials, and because a flaps 15 takeoff is relatively rare. Flying out of KMDW though pretty heavy last night, TOPCAT calculated a flaps 15 takeoff. I will describe my takeoff last night, and what I've found on the internet this morning to help, followed by some questions Taking off MDW First, my speed in the MCP is always set to V2. Taking off, thrust 40, wait a few seconds, click on the TO/GA and manually raise levers to takeoff position. Rotate, pos rate, gear up. Now once I'm up, I'm following the flight director bar on the HUD. If I can recall correctly, that bar disappears after a few seconds, and it seems I'm on my own for the vertical navigation. I'm pitching down to accelerate, and trying to manually turn to the desired heading... and trimming... trimming... now I'm accelerating better pull the flaps up to 5. And now im accelerating, and probably overshot my desired heading... and I have no flight director to follow... so I'm trying to get back on that... and messing up my pitch so now I might be decelerating so nose down to pick up some speed.. Then I'm hearing the alt reminder that I'm approaching 3,000 that I was cleared to. trimming... trimming... (now Im doing all this without ATC, it sure would suck to have to tune the radios and contact approach while all this is going on). ok... now Im rapidly approaching 3,000, so Im nosing down so I dont go over it.. and now I'm accelerating very rapidly over flaps up.. so move flaps to up. And now I'm wildly out of trim, so Im really trying to trim it out so I can get the AP on and back in control of the aircraft. Oh crap, now I'm descending... Anyway, obviously I need to work on this process. I found what I should be doing (as far as I know) on the internet: Set the MCP to V2 +15/20. Fly the Flight Director cues to Acceleration Height. At Acceleration Height, push yoke forward reducing pitch. As forward speed increases you will quickly pass through the schedule for initial flap retraction – retract flaps 5. Dial into the MCP speed window the appropriate 'clean up' speed (reference the top bug on the speed tape of the PFD, usually 210-220 kias). Continue to retract flaps as per schedule. After flaps are retracted, engage automation (if wanted) and increase speed to 250 kias or as indicated by Air Traffic Control. First question... set the MC to V2 + 15? At acceleration height... is the flight director dipping.. or is the flight director in the HUD disappearing and I'm on my own to push the yoke down. And when I push the yoke down, am I pushing it down to level flight? OK, when the speed increase past the flaps 15 bug, flaps up to flaps 5 (is there a flaps 15 bug on the tape, or do I have to figure that out before I takeoff and mentally remember it?) Once the speed increases above flaps 5 bug (similarly, is there a flaps 5 bug?) flaps up What is the 'clean up' speed... or is that just the speed above the "up" marker? Finally, after increasing the MCP to 250, I'm ready to click on AP and VNAV / LNAV (or HDG) This is sure alot of work for a single pilot when you throw in communications. Is it too much work? Plus actually lifting the gear, then turning the gear off, clicking off the lights etc. etc. Also, I know of the acceleration height and the thrust reduction height. However, until I click on VNAV all this is irrelevant in this case isn't it? I'm setting the thrust manually then flying out manually until I'm cleaned up, the thrust is set manually once I push the throttles up, no? Anyway, I know all of this likely is in some manual somewhere, but I'm much better at understanding when real people talk. Perhaps referencing the manual, with a real explanation or tip would be helpful and appreciated. Maybe someone who has a process down (keeping in mind only one person can fly in the sim and has to do it all), how to do it all and when to do it all. Also, an ATC question-- With all this going on, whats the "grace period" between when tower tells you to contact approach, and the time when you contact approach. It could be a few minutes before I'm to the point where I can take my hands off the wheel, look down and tune the radio. Thank you!

I think he wants to reverse thrust without the use of the controls, and exclusively with mouse clicks. You know, like click on the reverse thrust levers upon touchdown (in the VC).... but he can't because N1 over 20 doesn't allow it.... or something like that. I can't figure out why you'd want to do that when your Saitek can do it.. but to each their own.

I wonder if it might be policy that they shouldn't be distracted. Back when they flew with the door open (I can actually remember these days, looking up the aisle and out the pilot's window), it would be pretty obvious that they could hear the announcements. But there have been a few wrecks due to distracted pilots, and I know there have been regulations put in place that restrict even talking general BS in the cockpit during critical phases of flight. I don't know, is the cockpit door sound proofed on purpose? Curious.

I'm not disagreeing, but is it realism... or preference, or enhancing the gaming? Whatever your reason, I get it. I'm just wondering if the pilots can actually hear what goes on in the back.

Just curious, when the cockpit door is closed, and the pilot is pushing back going to pre-taxi checklists and whatnot... do they actually hear the cabin announcements? I think it might be a cool addon, but well if it's not realistic I wouldn't be so interested.

If you're using the Saitek Yoke, the three throttles have a position at the bottom of the slider (below an internal stop) that is essentially a button. Assign that button to "decrease throttle" and click the repeat. Once you land and have the throttles retarded, pull the throttle below the internal stop, that will activate that button and with the repeat function enabled, the throttle will go into reverse mode. To get out of reverse thrust raise the slider above the internal stop. You can do a similar procedure for arming the spoilers for landing if you use one of the throttles as the spoiler axis. You can also program the third throttle axis as a flap position slider. Its kinda like Saitek purposefully put those buttons in the throttle hardware with something in mind.... like reverse thrust.